L.E.X
L.E.X is an American singer, rapper and songwriter. His URAPS career began in March of 2010, when he participated in the Tango Challenge. He didn't make it through the heats, but proceeded to build his career independently with the release of his debut single "Sabotage, Inc.". The single was a minor success, peaking in the top 10 on release. The singer/rapper followed this up with his top 3 hits "Nothing Of Me" and "Soul Suicide". His album "The Perfect Storm" was released in May of 2010 preceding his debut single, entering at #2, and is currently cerified double platinum with sales exceeding 700k. Lionell releases his new single "She's Screaming / Unmake My Promises" with Becca Hayworth in February, 2011. Early Life Lionell Bennett was born on May 28th, 1990, the son of a Texan oil tycoon and a Californian socialite and former beauty queen; he was born in Texas, where he and his family lived for three years before they moved to the Hollywood Hills, as Lionell's mother was still attempting to achieve her dream of becoming an actress. Lionell learned quickly growing up to be self-sufficient, because his parents never made much time for him due to their careers. Lionell managed to avoid many of the pitfalls of growing up in the Hollywood Hills, avoiding the nightlife with its alcohol and drugs, which put him at odds with many of his peers who busied themselves with partying and becoming famous-for-being-famous. Lionell ventured out from the Hills to the urban community where he was initially met with contempt, but he eased himself into urban culture and developed an interest in urban music. Music ''The Perfect Storm'' Era Lionell was originally gearing himself up as a straight-up urban artist, with the first songs he worked on being "Molotov Cocktail", which was intended to be his debut single until his loss at the Tango Challenge heats, and "Miss Fortune" which in its early form was the song Lionell performed at his Tango Challenge heat. Lionell suffered rejection from the competition; this inspired his track "Sabotage, Inc." which went on to become his debut single with guest vocals from Cassie Fox and Butterscotch. Future material kept him firmly in the urban genre; but as he developed his material, more and more of his songs featured him singing his lyrics rather than rapping, so he switched gears and re-tooled himself as an urban-soul singer/rapper. The resulting album "The Perfect Storm" was met with surprisingly strong reactions, with its hard-hitting lyrics, slick production and an all-star list of collaborators and producers. The album showcased Lionell's rapping abilities as well as his rich, soulful vocals. While predominantly urban in style, the album incorporated elements of jazz (the horns used on "Soul Suicide"), dance (Timbaland's production on "Unmake My Promises") and world music (tribal drums on "Drummer Boy" featuring Paulo Araujo). The resulting blend of styles was a hit with critics and the buying public, which consequently resulted in a strong opening for the album when it debuted at #2. It has so far charted in excess of 30 weeks, and is certified double platinum with sales tallying over 700k copies to date. Stateside, the album opened at #5, and to date has been certified platinum with sales exceeding 1,000,000. Lionell received moderately strong reaction to "Sabotage, Inc.", with critics declaring that the single showed promise for Lionell. The single received top 5 projections, but this did not come to fruition, with the single only charting at #9 upon release. The single went on to perform as desired however, with it showing staying power inside the top 20 and reaching silver certification and reaching total sales of 133,790. Digitally the song didn't fare well, only charting for two weeks on the digital chart with sales of 21,500. On radio, the single was a surprise success, achieving a top 10 peak after an apparent failure to launch. In the US, the single reached the top 20 on the Hot 100, with top 15 peaks on urban and rhythmic airplay formats and moderately strong digital sales. There were multiple options for the follow-up single, and after Lionell and then-label Elite couldn't agree on a decision, a poll was opened to the public on what the single should be. "Nothing Of Me", a 90's-throwback urban ballad won the poll and was released as the next single. During the time Lionell was promoting the single, he worked with Moodring on a remix of their single "Dirty Dirty" and on a track for their debut album. In return, they featured on a remix of "Nothing Of Me". The singles were released two weeks apart, however the collaborating artists teamed together to promote their respective singles. "Nothing Of Me" was originally projected for the top 5, before a one-week push-back bumped this up to top 3 projections. However an unexpected situation on the charts resulted in Emily Henning's most recent single "Crash & Burn" missing the top spot after projections of a chart-topper. It was expected that as a result, Lionell's single would go back to being just top 5 with heavy favourite "Hermit" by DJ Double Garage and Kazimiera becoming the top entry. It was a surprise then, when the single did enter in the top 3, behind Idol winner Genevere Johnson and ahead of the front-runners. The single spent 8 weeks on chart to date and surpassed the sales of its predecessor, selling 148,024 copies. Digitally, the song sold extremely strongly; having reached a #2 peak and total sales of 132,208 digital copies. The song was a strong hit in the US, with high peaks on Lionell's relevant radio formats, and experiencing crossover success to pop radio helping ensnare Lionell's first US top 10. Lionell has collaborated with a number of different artists on various projects as well; in partnership with Danelle Becker and Cassie Fox, Lionell appeared on tracks that would appear in alternate versions of each of their respective albums. The song "Underground" features on both Lionell's and Cassie's albums in differing forms, and the song "Fool Is You" from Lionell's album is a part 2/answer song to "Fool" from the deluxe version of Danelle's album. Lionell also appeared on the remix of "Twelve Times", Danelle's breakthrough top 3 hit. Lionell collaborated with Paulo Araujo on the song "Drummer Boy" for Lionell's album, and appears on two tracks from Becca Hayworth's album "Afterlife". Lionell appeared on the remix of "Worlds Collide", the Tango Challenge entry for Kazimiera and Tiffany Amber. Lionell also recorded a song with Genevere Johnson for her album "Forever". In July of 2010, Lionell joined Butterscotch on her "I Shit Pink Glitter" tour as a support act, alongside Danelle Becker, on the North American tour dates. Lionell's set as a support act included seven songs; five of them solo song, and two of them duets with Danelle. This leg of the tour was a success, with Lionell impressing crowds with his energy and live vocals. The tour greatly helped the performance of "Nothing Of Me" in the States, helping it climb into the top 10 on urban and rhythmic radio, as well as the song crossing over onto pop radio. Digital sales have been strong and the single has broken the top 10 on the Hot 100. "Soul Suicide" was announced as the third single in mid-August. It was released on October 11th, and became Lionell's second consecutive top 3 hit, and his largest-selling UK single to date. It tallied 154,435 copies in the UK, but did not live up to 'Nothing Of Me' on downloads (only selling 94,072 digital copies) or on UK radio (which would have been a major feat given the strength of airplay 'Nothing Of Me' received). In the US, the single has reached #1 on urban and rhythmic radio formats, becoming his first airplay #1 on either format, and is still climbing the top 10 on pop radio, so far with a peak of #6. It became Lionell's first ever #1 hit, with its strong airplay bolstered by exceptionally strong post-Christmas digital sales. In 2011 it was announced that Lionell was to release "Unmake My Promises" as the 4th single from his debut album; originally pencilled in for January 10th, it was pushed back so Alias could focus their attention more closely on other acts. Lionell then joined forces with Becca Hayworth for the release of the single on its re-scheduled date; the two announced the release of a double A-side joining "Unmake My Promises" from Lionell's album with "She's Screaming" from Becca's album. A rap by Lionell is featured on Becca's song, but a new version of Lionell's song had to be recorded in order to include Becca. The single, "She's Screaming / Unmake My Promises" is due for release on the 7th of February, 2011. Other Projects Lionell was cast as the male lead in the film, "The Dreidel Room", an action-thriller which served as the launching vehicle for Lionell's acting career. In the movie he plays Jonas McKee, boyfriend of Candy Rayne (co-star Just Ginger). Lionell wrote the song 'Run For You Life' which he recorded with Ginger for the soundtrack. He and Ginger shot a video for the single which was featured on a special EP of music related to the film. Lionell received praise from critics for his acting abilities in the movie, with particular focus put on his portrayal of Jonas toward the end of the film. "The Dreidel Room" was a box office success, opening at #1 on both sides of the Atlantic. "The Dreidel Room" is Lionell's first acting role in any capacity; he is currently signed on for a dark thriller to be shot in 2011, with Lionell playing the a psychotically disturbed college student methodically killing off the other men in his dorm one by one. According to publicised details, the role is significantly reduced compared to his role in "The Dreidel Room", and that Lionell's character isn't heavily featured until the second half. Further details of this future project are unknown at this time. Lionell was one of the competitors on the 2010 season of "Strictly Come Dancing", having been partnered up with dancer Kharizma Smirchoff. Lionell had never danced before prior to the show, and Kharizma had never taught before. The couple showed great chemistry both on and off the floor during the show's run. Lionell impressed audiences with his dancing ability, finally being eliminated in 4th place. Kharizma shot the video for 'Soul Suicide' with Lionell in September 2010. Personal Life Lionell is close friends with Cassie Garcia of Moodring. His other friends include Danelle Becker, Cassie Fox, Butterscotch, Bre BOT, L'Mondrea Brown, Genevere Johnson and Jackson Bradshaw. Lionell's arch-rival is Kirby L. Avalon, having developed an intense dislike for each other over the Tango Challenge, when Lionell was eliminated and Kirby made the cut. Lionell and Kirby have both been romantically linked to Cassie, however it has never been proven that any romantic links exist between Lionell and Cassie. Nevertheless the close friendship has been a point of contention for gossip columnists who in recent times appear to have a vendetta against Kirby. One point of interest in the mud-slinging was how Kirby lied about his Russian heritage, and Lionell was accused of sharing this Russian heritage. Lionell is the godfather of Sunkissed-Ryvita, baby daughter of ex-girlfriend Ginger; Lionell made the request close to the baby's birth to be named godfather prior to he and Ginger dating. In order to be a good father figure, Lionell invited Ginger and Sunny to live with him in his Los Angeles home. While shooting "The Dreidel Room", Lionell and Ginger entered into a relationship, but this proved to be a publicity stunt on Gingers part; in January of 2011, Ginger and Sunny moved out of Lionell's home after a highly publicised split with Ginger. Controversy Due to his close relationship with Cassie Garcia, it has been rumoured that he is the father of Cassie's unborn baby, rather than Kirby, who is widely reported to be Cassie's boyfriend. Lionell has never personally addressed these rumours, preferring to let them perpetuate just to annoy Kirby. Less persistent rumours state that the entire rivalry is a sham, and Cassie is a beard for the two of them to cover up a gay relationship. These rumours have been emphatically denied by both parties. Lionell professes to be 100% straight. Most recently, Lionell was involved in a hostage situation; his collaboration partner Becca Hayworth took label boss Esmeralda Dimuzio hostage, as well as four employees of the record label. Having just suffered from a miscarriage, Becca believed that she had been wrongfully treated with only a small amount of down-time allowed before she was expected to return to work to improve her album sales. Lionell attempted to intervene and calm Becca down, only to be taken as a sixth hostage and held at gunpoint. Lionell did not take well to the experience, due to overheard conversations between himself and friend Jackson Bradshaw. Lionell currently will only be near Becca when they are working, and otherwise is keeping his distance from his duet partner. Discography Albums 2010: The Perfect Storm (#2) Singles 2010: "Sabotage, Inc.", released May 10th (#9) 2010: "Nothing Of Me", released June 28th (#3) 2010: "Soul Suicide", released October 11th (#3) 2011: "She's Screaming / Unmake My Promises", released February 7th (#4) 2011: "'The Boss' EP", released May 16th (#2) Category:Urapopstar Category:1990 births Category:Male artists